Ohio's Chernobyl
Perhaps the biggest ecological disaster in North American History, The Biden Administration and environmentalists are uncharacteristically silent.
Jason Cousineau and Eric Renderking Fisk | Recorded on February 18th, 2023
Jason and Eric vent their frustration at the lack of support for the people of East Palestine, Ohio. Why wasn't FEMA dispatched to this disaster area? Why hasn't President Joe Biden given a press conference on this topic, and why is the Transportation Secretary - Pete Buttigieg - incapable of saying anything substantial about this disaster until this weekend?
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Crews released toxic chemicals into the air from five derailed tanker cars that were in danger of exploding Monday and began burning it after warning residents near the Ohio-Pennsylvania state line to leave immediately or face the possibility of death.
Flames and black smoke billowed high into the sky from the derailment site late in the afternoon, about an hour after authorities said the controlled release would begin.
The slow release of vinyl chloride from five rail cars into a trough that was then ignited created a large plume above the village of East Palestine but authorities said they were closely monitoring the air quality.
“Thus far, no concerning readings have been detected,” Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said at a brief evening news conference about three hours after the venting and burning procedure began.
NOAA.Gov: "Train Derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
A eastbound Norfolk Southern train bound for Conway Pennsylvania, derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, on Friday, February 3, 2023 at 8:55PM. About 50 cars derailed; of those, 20 contained hazardous materials and four contained vinyl chloride. While no injuries were apparent from the immediate derailment, the fire spanned the length of the rail cars and continued for several days. At least one vinyl chloride car is intermittently leaking contents through a pressure release device.
The local Weather Forecasting Office has been using HYSPLIT runs to monitor the situation and the resulting plume rise of the vinyl chloride. The leaking vinyl chloride poses a health hazard to humans, and several area neighborhoods have been evacuated as a result of this accident. An evacuation order was in effect within a mile of the train crossing as of early Saturday, and the town set up barricades to deter residents from returning. Vinyl chloride is a colorless, flammable gas that is associated with an increased cancer risk in those exposed to it. It is used to make hard plastic resin such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes, wire coatings, vehicle upholstery, and plastic kitchen ware.
The EPA and Norfolk Southern are monitoring air quality.
FIRST ON FOX: An Ohio Republican congressman gave Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s response to the East Palestine train derailment and toxic chemical spill an "F," telling FOX News Digital residents are "fearful" and "frustrated."
Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, spoke with FOX News Digital over the phone about the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, that has polluted the town and surrounding region with toxic chemicals.
Johnson said that many of his East Palestine constituents are "concerned," "fearful," and "frustrated" about the crisis. Additionally, the congressman noted the rail company, Norfolk Southern, was absent from the town hall meeting Wednesday night.
First Post: ‘Chernobyl 2.0’? Why the Ohio toxic train derailment is being compared to the 1986 nuclear disaster Some social media users have compared the derailment of a toxin-laden train in Ohio to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, suggesting that authorities and media are trying to hide its overall impact. But how true is the claim? FP Explainers February 17, 2023 14:13:22 IST
The Nations: "Buttigieg’s Paralysis After the East Palestine Disaster Is a Gift to the Hard Right Unless Democrats offer solutions, the GOP will be able to stoke racism." February 17th, 2023
But Buttigieg’s own reticence on this matter is hard to ignore, especially in contrast to his irrepressible volubility on most other topics. It took Buttigieg a full 10 days to make a statement on the East Palestine disaster.
In a twitter thread on February 13, Buttigieg wrote, “I continue to be concerned about the impacts of the Feb 3 train derailment near East Palestine, OH, and the effects on families in the ten days since their lives were upended through no fault of their own.” The next day, Buttigieg followed up by writing, “We’re constrained by law on some areas of rail regulation (like the braking rule withdrawn by the Trump administration in 2018 because of a law passed by Congress in 2015), but we are using the powers we do have to keep people safe.”
This statement was only partially true. It’s undeniable that the Trump administration’s deregulations have been a problem. But Trump whittled regulations that had already been watered down by Republicans in Congress in 2015 thanks to railroad industry lobbying.
Equally important is the fact that the Biden administration and its transportation secretary have made no effort to remedy the situation. As The Lever reported on February 10, “In the aftermath of a fiery Ohio train derailment, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg’s department has not moved to reinstate an Obama-era rail safety rule aimed at expanding the use of better braking technology, even though a former federal safety official recently warned Congress that without the better brakes, ‘there will be more derailments [and] more releases of hazardous materials.’” In fact, under Buttigieg’s watch, the Transportation Department was contemplating stripping down brake safety rules even further.
